Among the most informative documents presented at most meetings of the Select Board is a staff report, collated and written by either Town Administrator Tim Bragan or Assistant Town Administrator Marie Sobalvarro and distributed to Select Board members a day or two before the meeting. The document is chock-full of news on the status of town projects, staff initiatives and achievements, the work of the state Legislature, and more—even reports of the town’s latest Eagle Scouts.
These reports always get time on the Select Board agenda and are read in whole or in part by Bragan or Sobalvarro. But they are never posted, as are the materials for other items to be discussed.
That’s a problem for the Press—and, one would think, for any citizen—who must request copies after the meeting, sometimes to the detriment of timely reporting of important information. Moreover, their absence violates one of the purposes of an agenda, which is to alert the public to issues that will be discussed. Without access to a staff report ahead of time, a citizen has no idea what topics of interest it might contain. And because the report is usually presented following public comment, there is no opportunity for a meeting attendee to respond.
In our experience, Town Hall staff have usually been quick to respond to requests for public information and we have rarely, if ever, found it necessary to make a formal Freedom of Information Act request for a town document. But it’s troubling that the biweekly staff report is not more readily available.
Why not include it with every Select Board agenda that’s posted to the town website?
We understand that the board’s agendas are typically posted the Thursday afternoon preceding a Tuesday meeting and that the staff report may not be ready by then. If that’s the case, we see no reason it can’t be added Monday or Tuesday, given its role as a supporting document for a presentation included on that week’s agenda.
While not required by Massachusetts Open Meeting Law, it would be a positive step for the public as well as the Press.
